1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a print control apparatus, a printing method, and a print control program and, more particularly, to a mechanism suitable to a case of executing partial printing in each printing apparatus such that on the basis of one print request, the print request is distributed to the printing apparatuses such as a plurality of printers, copying apparatus having a printer function, or the like, another printing apparatus is allowed to execute substitute printing in the middle of the printing, or the like.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, there is a distribution print system in which a plurality of print jobs which are generated on the basis of one print request which needs printing of a plurality of pages or a plurality of copies are distributed to a plurality of printers connected to a network or an apparatus such as a copying apparatus having a printer function, or the like (those apparatuses are also called xe2x80x9cprintersxe2x80x9d hereinbelow) and the printing is executed. By using such a distribution print system, printing of a large quantity of documents comprising a plurality of pages can be executed at a high speed.
However, in the conventional distribution print system, when one print job is divided into a plurality of distribution jobs, an attribute of the print job set by the user is not considered, so that there is a case where a print result is different from a print result which is required by the user.
For example, in the case where a duplex printing mode is designated as an attribute of the print job and the user intends to print by a plurality of printers by dividing print data every page, if a dividing position of the print job is set to the even-number designated page, a combination of the pages which are printed to the obverse and the reverse is deviated after the dividing position and the print result is different from a result which is expected by the user. Specifically speaking, if a document is equivalently distributed to three printing apparatuses although the user wants to print the document of 9 pages in the duplex printing mode, the document is transmitted to the three printing apparatuses as a duplex print instruction as a document divided to every three pages. Therefore, in each printing apparatus, two sheets of recording paper are delivered, the second reverse is printed as blank paper, and the print result is different from a result which is expected by the user.
There is a problem such that in the case where a staple printing mode to bind the paper of a plurality of pages and print is designated in the print job, the user ought to expect that the paper is stapled every copy and outputted; however, if the document is divided every page and printed by a plurality of printers, the paper is stapled in the middle of the document, and the print result is different from a result which is expected by the user.
The invention is made in consideration of the above problems and it is an object of the invention that when one print job is distributed by a plurality of printing apparatuses and printing is performed, by controlling a dividing position of the print job in accordance with an attribute set into the print job, a print result which is expected by the user can be certainly obtained.
According to the invention, there is provided a distribution print control apparatus for controlling in a manner such that a plurality of print jobs are generated on the basis of one print request and distribution-printed by using a plurality of printing apparatuses, characterized by comprising: attribute obtaining means for obtaining a print attribute set for the print request; minimum division unit setting means for setting a minimum division unit of the print request on the basis of the print attribute obtained by the attribute obtaining means; and dividing position deciding means for deciding a dividing position of the plurality of print jobs on the basis of the minimum division unit set by the minimum division unit setting means.
According to another feature of the invention, the apparatus further has print job generating means for generating the plurality of print jobs by dividing at the dividing position which is decided by the dividing position deciding means.
According to still another feature of the invention, if a fact that a staple printing mode to bind paper of a plurality of pages and print has been set as a print attribute of the print request is obtained by the attribute obtaining means, the minimum division unit setting means sets a part of the print request as a minimum division unit.
According to still another feature of the invention, the apparatus further has repetition discriminating means for discriminating whether data is constructed by repetitively arranging data of one copy or not in the case where a fact that a plurality of copies are printed has been set as a print attribute of the print request is obtained by the attribute obtaining means, and if it is determined by the repetition discriminating means that the data is constructed by repetitively arranging the data of one copy, the minimum division unit setting means sets the number of pages of one copy as a minimum division unit so as to set one copy to the minimum division unit.
According to still another feature of the invention, if a fact that a duplex printing mode has been set as a print attribute of the print request is obtained by the attribute obtaining means, the minimum division unit setting means sets two physical pages as a minimum division unit.
According to still another feature of the invention, if a fact that an Nup (pages-in-one) printing mode to print a plurality of logical pages to one physical page has been set as a print attribute of the print request is obtained by the attribute obtaining means, the minimum division unit setting means sets the number of logical pages which are printed to the one physical page as a minimum division unit.
According to still another feature of the invention, if a fact that both of a duplex printing mode and an Nup printing mode to print a plurality of logical pages to the one physical page have been set as a print attribute of the print request is obtained by the attribute obtaining means, the minimum division unit setting means sets the number of pages which is twice as large as the number of logical pages which are printed to the one physical page as a minimum division unit.
A distribution print system of the invention has the distribution print control apparatus disclosed in one of the above paragraphs and a plurality of printing apparatuses.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.